Head Stamp Help

Well, i was at the range last weekend and found a ton of .38 spl cases that i just couldnt help but buzzard. As i was sorting them for quality/headstamp i found a few that i was curious about.

I found maybe 10 with the Headstamp "zero", one with the headstamp of "AMRON" , one labeled "Star" and several that read "FC" and either the number 86 or the number 87. (I believe these are Federal with the number being the year of manufacture, but would like to confirm)

You are correct on the FCs...They are Federal and the date of manufacture and they are military....Or were originally...

The rest I have not seen except maybe one and I tossed it as an odd ball and of no use to me as I have a bunch (over 10,000 .38 Special cases in storage)

Mal H

April 4, 2007, 10:41 PM

Besides the Federal cartridges, the only one I know about is Amron. They were a Minnesota based company that specialized in ammo for the DoD. They also made cases for various small arms.

nitesite

April 4, 2007, 11:25 PM

Hello.

The "ZERO" headstamp is from the Zero Bullet Company in Cullman, Alabama (maker of loaded ammunition and bullet components for over 20 years). Their web site is zerobullets.com or rozedist.com . Good brass for reloading.

The STAR one is a bit confusing. I thought it might be Starline Brass ( www.starlinebrass.com ), which is the manufacturer of some of the best American-made cartridge brass anywhere. But their headstamp is usually seen as *___* with the line centered between the stars.

I use Starline cases for my 10mm Auto reloads because it is so much better than many of the other makers out there.

GooseGestapo

April 5, 2007, 07:24 AM

The "STAR" case is an old case. Star was a company that loaded ammo much as Zero, 3-D, and others. Their match grade 148 wadcutters were as good as it got when it was produced.
The Zero brass is actually Star-Line brass with Zero's head stamp.